Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri is an eminent author, an authoritative speaker, a transformational leader and Dean of IIPM Business School of BBA MBA Management Courses. Arindam Chaudhuri is also a producer of many superhit movies.

Rs. 1,76,000 crores and counting! The scam is the biggest in the country ever – or rather, the sum total of all the other scams (that have been exposed) put together, multiplied by two and more! If not a joint parliamentary committee probe now, then when? A great democracy is one with a thriving opposition. After the last elections, I had raised a question. Is this the end of the road for the BJP for long? It looked so. BJP was stuck on its Hindutva mantra, while the Congress promised youth, which looked progressive and could connect with the masses better! After all, the Hindus themselves are so coexistential that they don’t like any communal stress in their lives. But then, complacency is the mother of all failures. And failure is the mother of all successes! Congress did two big blunders. Firstly, in a haste to promote Rahul Gandhi as its future leader – and in its fear that charismatic speakers like Jyotiradiya or Sachin Pilot or Milind Deora may overshadow the son – the Congress started destroying its biggest trump card, the youth factor, which had made it look so bright. The Congress saw to it that none of them had the courage to hog any limelight or be in any platform of importance; so much so that the public has virtually forgotten Congress’ youth brigade. And the truth is whatever the slavish media in India writes (it praises every rare semi-meaningful word that Rahul says as if it’s straight from Julius Ceaser). Rahul Gandhi, unfortunately, is still not good enough to single-handedly lead the Congress yet. Like they have done with Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Congress could have made best use of Rahul as the silent guy, while the other better speakers managed the party.

The second mistake is perhaps bigger and more dangerous. Protecting a dynasty may ruin a party but abetting corruption ruins the nation. The Congress ruined its Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s personal image of crystal clear integrity by entering into a series of mega scams. A majority of population in India, being illiterate, doesn’t understand policies much; but they understand ‘chori’. I believe a conspiracy by V. P. Singh created a wave in India which made him the Prime Minister from a nobody, thanks only to an allegation of corruption that he could make the public believe in. Rajiv was a man of definite personal integrity and was highly progressive and had started an anti-corruption drive in India against Indian businessmen. V.P. Singh was a friend of the industry, being a past commerce minister, and catching the moment, he made the Bofors allegation. Rajiv – a man of great progressive thoughts, great charisma and a Gandhi who had earlier swept the elections on a massive sympathy wave – lost the elections. I would say for no reason but a wave around corruption that the masses were falsely made to believe. Rajiv Gandhi, I believe, was personally not corrupt (for party funds, even the most honest politician depends on sources; and Rajiv might have depended on a single alternative instead of a number of Indian businessmen). But can I say the same about the current Congress? Well, only a joker can. Everyone else knows what’s happening in the Congress. Yes, there is a Manmohan Singh who is clean. But he sits atop a pile of corrupt people. CWG, Adarsh, 2G, it goes on... personal wealth creation at its best; and wealth being stacked offshore. The Supreme Court rightly asked, was the Prime Minister sleeping? Being personally clean as a leader is only half the job done. You have to make a system that cleans up the whole system.

And in this failure of Congress to provide clean governance, comes the hope for BJP and NDA for 2014. Forget Hindutva; concentrate on the massive dacoity of India. In every sphere. The masses understand it and they are totally convinced today that the UPA has started rotting inside out. There seems to be a sudden wave in the Congress on why should Mukesh Ambani remain the only one with 3 lac crore rupees. Gone are the days of the ‘hundred crore’ ministers. If figures are to be believed, today the key ministers are raking in thousands of crores. The country is being looted and sold off to the highest bidder... Oops, I got it wrong here – the lowest bidder, to be precise, who gives the highest kickback. There is absolutely no reason for anyone to accept and tolerate this. And this is where the need of opposition in a democracy comes in. The BJP needs to keep up its demand for a JPC probe. Take to the streets but the JPC is a must. And the probe must be totally transparent with complete media access during hearings. That’s the way it happened in Watergate, the Iran Contra, the Clinton case. That’s how it happens in real democracies. With the Assange case, it’s clear that America is unfairly using ownership of web domains – controlled by America – to close down various websites in order to hound and shut off WikiLeaks. India could lead the way in showing what a democracy is about for a change.

The JPC is also the only way everyone can be brought to the questioning table. Every other agency can be manipulated and managed in this country by the party in power. As I wrote in my previous editorial on the Radia tapes, the Indian media is right now too busy doing what it does best: go behind glamourised cases and magnify them to grab eyeballs and totally mislead and misinform the public. The part which was leaked till then proved nothing. There are lobbyists everywhere. The real issue here is that the government is caught in a web of corruption – perhaps facilitated by a lobbyist. Here we are talking about the issue of Rs.1,76,000 crores; and there we are speaking of a few stories that were being attempted to be planted here and there... What a mind blowing diversion from the real issue. It’s hilarious the way the media is happily going on and on bashing individual journalists (glamourous, easy preys and perfect vent for pent up jealousies), who cannot hit back, instead of hitting out at the real people who are behind this scam. What the opposition and media need to do right now is demand for the JPC probe, for that’s what the Indian masses need and want. Of course, a few weeks back, I myself wrote that our Parliamentarians have no right to waste the taxpayers’ money due to non-functioning of the Parliament. But as the magnitude of the scam gets unearthed, it’s clear that there’s more of tax payers’ money at stake in the scam than in the non-functioning of the Parliament. The masses, the tax payers, they have a right to a clean regime and the opposition must help them get their rights. That’s what makes a functional propeople democracy. And why not? After all, this perhaps is the sure-shot route for the NDA to be back in power in 2014 – as I said, nothing works with the aam junta better than the corruption plank.This article is sourced from PR-CANADA.net, click here to read compelete article.

Monday, December 20, 2010

To change this ‘demonocracy’ to a democracy, we must all join hands and demand for a judiciary that is not rotting and rusting!

Last week I was very fortunate to be a part of this wonderful, moving and inspirational seminar on the ‘Power of One’ (coverage of the same is there after my editorial)! The speakers included Tarun Tejpal, who so very inspirationally spoke about the founding fathers of our nation, their vision and saga of sacrifices. Indeed, hearing Tarun speak is always a pleasure, just as much as seeing him – a real life hero of public interest journalism in India – always is! His words had the power of making me forget for a while that the same Nehru, whose birthday is ironically celebrated as Children’s Day in India, founded an India where today, seven times more kids suffer from malnutrition than they do in China – something Tarun himself quoted. He spoke of how we shouldn’t forget where India resides – in the villages. And the onus was on us to fight for the right cause. He spoke of things that at least we never forget at The Sunday Indian. There was Neelem Katara who spoke next in the most moving manner on her battle to get justice for her son against the might of one of the biggest dons of north India. At one moment, she was confident; at another, she was hurt and tender; and yet, at all moments, she was brave! Sitting there, I was inspired and in tears – alternatively hoping that one day we could be instrumental in bringing an end to this demonocracy that prevails in India. Then of course spoke Rajinder Kachroo, the man who lost his son Aman Kachroo to the menace of ragging. He spoke how ragging was criminal – I couldn’t agree more. His journey to get stringent rulings passed against ragging was the story of sheer determination; and it made me more determined to keep our crusade to weed out the cause of ragging from its roots! Then came Binu Chandran, the real life hero who got Ghazi Baba, the dreaded Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist to his end. Binu did that through his saga of physical bravery, where the decision to be taken was clear – to send his people to fight or to lead from the front. He chose the latter and got this country glory. Hearing Binu was super inspirational but I knew it was beyond us to be a real part of any such battle. Yet, I kept reminding myself that the pen is surely no less mighty than grenades. Finally, of course, we had the water crusader of India Rajendra Singh speaking! His sense of humour floored all of us; yet, everyone got the simple message strong and clear – that we needed to give our children rivers and water instead of ‘gandaa nalaas’ and droughts – a cause our social wing the Great Indian Dream Foundation (GIDF) is very passionate about. The five speakers showed us the power of one in a country like India! Through their sheer grit, determination, bravery and commitment, they individually had indeed made a positive difference to this nation. The session was followed by a great round of questions and answers, mainly focusing around the issues of bravery versus fear and the need to be brave!

And then came the most difficult challenge, to get up and speak. Speak about the power of one; that is, about bravery versus fear and yet not spare the reasons behind the sheer requirement of these brave crusades. Listening to them had recharged my brain. While I was in total awe of these amazing people, I knew very well that forget taking the all-or-nothing risk of putting everything at stake for journalism of public interests that Tarun epitomized, I was not even sure whether I – if I had been a friend of Nitish Katara – wouldn’t have myself turned a hostile witness were I to face the threat of the underworld mafia. I didn’t know if I would have had enough determination to keep pursuing the courts to change ragging laws, had I been in the place of Rajinder Kachroo. Sixteen years back, my younger brother died in a road accident – the sorrow killed me – but I didn’t do anything at all to make the Indian roads safer or get laws enacted to make it compulsory for the pillion rider to wear a helmet – though fortunately the law got enacted on its own. Of course, I was candid enough to realize that I couldn’t have done anything remotely as brave as what Binu Chandran had done. Yet, I refused to believe that I was not brave; or that, given the right environment, I wouldn’t stand up for the right cause. I refused to accept that I was fearful. I knew there was something that was missing and was required to complete the story... some realities we must be aware of, and should take up as a serious cause to fight for! Perhaps only health, education and employment come ahead of the issue I’m going to discuss. And that is the demand for a judicial system that can alter the concept of India and bring us a huge lot closer to a real democracy rather than the ‘demonocracy’ that we live in.This article is sourced from PR-CANADA.net, click here to read compelete article.

When Barack Obama was running for the US presidency, the common joke in America was that win or lose, Obama was sure to get a job with MSNBC! And when he won, the joke was that “all the channels declared Barack Obama as the US President at 11 in the night; MSNBC declared him the winner six months back.” That’s representative of how blatantly MSNBC had lobbied to make Obama the US President. And every media house with an ideology and conviction does so. Yes, that’s the job of media houses and of journalists with character, ideology and convictions.

Wake up to reality, my friends! In UK and USA elections, newspapers rally behind individual parties till the very end – openly. And it’s not because the party owns the media house. During the very next elections, the media houses could support the opposition. That’s how it is in all true democracies where media doesn’t fear a backlash if the party they don’t support comes to power. India is, of course, not a democracy. Behind the illusion of democracy, demons – almost one and all – rule this country, making it a unique “demonocracy”. What the government of India does is that they create cases similar to what they did with Tehelka, and makes it clear that if you try to expose the government, they will get back at you. So, before elections, Indian media – one and all (unless in regional cases where parties themselves own media) – is always polite about the ruling party even if they per se support the opposition. And this, because they fear that in case the ruling party returns post elections, they’ll have to face the music! Even the largest media house, the Times of India, has not been spared in the past, with Ashok Jain being harassed to his literal death with cases being fabricated against him for trying to act smart with the government! Compare this with the nine page special feature that The Sun ran in 1992 on the day UK elections with the headlines commenting, “If Kinnock wins today, will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights?”

Bulbs 1 - The legal lobbying industry in United Kingdom is estimated to be worth $1.9 billion, employing over 14,000 people

Bulbs 2 - When Malaysia intended to refurbish its tainted image, the then PM mahathir Mohamed paid $1.2 million to get a date with Bush

Bulbs 3 - when a negative wave starts on any topic, the intelligent word rarely finds any space in the world of vitriolic social media

Friday, November 26, 2010

If our Parliamentarians cannot make productive use of Rs 530 crore that we pay to run the Parliament, they have no right to waste it as well!

IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri

In my editorials, I have vividly written on our Parliament and Parliamentarians. From suggesting that our Parliament be outsourced (after 26/11), to asking political parties to pave the way for educated youth, to criticising the way our Parliament works, to how our Parliamentarians put their personal priorities above the national ones, I have often written about them. Be that as it may, the recent deadlock in our Parliament that lasted over eight long days made me come up with a few more urgently required and practicable measures. These eight successive days of adjournment cost the exchequer a staggering Rs 63 crores! In this whole winter session of Parliament, except for a couple of days, neither of the houses functioned normally for even one single session. For the uninitiated, as per official figures cited in various media, the total budget for the two houses for 2010-11 is estimated to be around a whopping Rs 530 crore!

For the first eight days of the Parliament in this season, only 47 minutes out of 2,880 minutes were spent on the question hour in the Lok Sabha, while in Rajya Sabha, out of a total 2,400 minutes, a jaw-dropping zero minutes were spent on the question hour. Worse, only 11 percent of total time in Lok Sabha and 2.25 percent of total time in Rajya Sabha was spent on productive work! And mind you, this is just a waste of one kind wherein the Parliament session is disrupted by our unruly Parliamentarians! The second variant of wastage comes in the form of absenteeism of our Parliamentarians. In the winter session last year, attendance in the Lok Sabha was between 56 percent and 75 percent with an average for the session at 66 percent. And the third variant of wastage is in the form of non-participation of any kind from our Parliamentarians. As per PRS Legislative Research, only 52 percent of the members in Lok Sabha participated in any debate in the last winter session. Of those who spoke, 25 percent restricted themselves to just a couple of debates while merely three percent MPs participated in more than 10 debates. Similar trends can be observed in both the houses since the last couple of years.

Such an irresponsible attitude by our Parliamentarians not just wastes colossal amounts of public funds, but also delays many important bills that are awaiting their approval – a few of them since many years. Nothing much can be expected from them as a majority of them are bereft of any education and a large number of them are hardened criminals who could make it to the Parliament by muscle and money power. But then, in the absence of any kind of refrain, these Parliamentarians are holding not just the Parliament, but the whole nation to ransom. It is high time that we set up a legally enforceable code of conduct, which makes it mandatory for these Parliamentarians to adhere to certain minimum expected standards. Non-adherence to the code could possibly result in penalties (monetary, non-monetary or both) and repetition of acts that go against the code could even result in legal action.This article is sourced from PR-CANADA.net, click here to read compelete article.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

I am sure that after reading the heading, everyone must be restless to know how? But have some patience. It’s a story I repeat often. And I must repeat it again today. As a child, I remember having considerable friends in school. I am sure everyone has. But my friends’ circle from the very beginning had a specialty – it had only those people who were all very, very good in studies. If you are wondering how, the answer to that is in the place I used to stay, and still stay; a locality called Chittaranjan Park in New Delhi. This was originally that locality in Delhi where all those who had gotten displaced from Bangladesh during the partition were given a place to settle down. So, it used to be called the ‘EPDP colony’ i.e. East Pakistan Displaced Persons’ colony. This locality had its very special characteristics – maybe someday I will write about them all – including the one I referred to; i.e. it gave me, during my very early childhood, a group of friends who were all toppers! Being a locality of mostly lower middle class displaced people, the relatively well-to-do amongst them – that is, those who were middle class – managed to put their children in public schools like mine – the reputed Delhi Public School (DPS) – and believed the only way out of this lower middle class or middle class existence was to be exceptional in studies. Of course, coupled up with the Bengali orientation towards arts and literature, our locality produced some of the most brilliant students for our school. So, if our school had 15 buses and 150 scholar badge holders (the ones who excelled in studies), I believe more than a fifth of those students used to go in the bus that used to go through CR Park. My father being a teacher, he attracted friendship with all those parents whose children were toppers; and that’s how most of my friends were exceptional in studies!This article is sourced from PR-USA.net, click here to read compelete article.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

‘There is no shortcut to success — the only way is through continuous effort’ they used to say in the old days. It is something that celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor largely agrees with, having learnt from his own experience of hosting a cookery show on television for the last 17 years.

“If you want to succeed, the only way is to put in an equivalent amount of continuous effort,” says Kapoor. “You have to put in the requisite labour each time in order to achieve success and cannot afford to rest on the laurels of your last success. Each time I host my cookery show, I start afresh,” he says.

Management guru Arindam Chaudhuri believes implicitly in the principle of consistent effort and he illustrates this with an example. Arindam had a problem with the topic of differential calculus while he was doing his management studies. “Every paper that had an element of differential calculus in it, I couldn’t do well in initially. But then by practising non-stop, I remember I topped the paper finally!

One has to keep trying hard, at times fall, get up and try again. This is one of the key secrets to success. Too often things haven’t happened the way I wanted and it’s only continuous striving that’s helped. I believe that passion is of no use unless it’s backed by sustained sincerity.”

TV actor Sweta Keswani, who while believing in the usefulness of luck in success, also believes that one has to back it up with effort.”When I was relatively new as an actress, I made a cold call to a well-known lady producer for work. We spoke for some time and she seemed keen to have me in her production but no call came from her office as expected. Two weeks later the channel I worked for recommended me to her and I went to see her again. When I reminded her that I’d met her a fortnight earlier on my own, without the clout of a powerful channel behind me, she at once approved my selection. I went on to do 162 episodes of the serial, owing a good part to the effort I’d made earlier. Effort is an indispensable pre-requisite for success. Don’t expect luck to find you, you have to go out and seek it.”

And as Sanjeev Kapoor says, success when achieved is the biggest motivator. “Once you achieve it, you’re motivated to go out and make even more efforts.”

Monday, November 01, 2010

It looks like it’s going to be a swell season for producer Arindam Chaudhuri. His upcoming film ‘Do Dooni Chaar’ has a strong storyline and the characters will surely appeal to the masses.

‘Do Dooni Chaar’ has pure Punjabi feel

The man, who had made a mark in the industry for his distinctive movies, had only a series of flops to his credit, but this hasn’t bogged him down a bit and he’s still confident that his latest Rishi-Neetu starrer will connect with the audiences.

Pinning all his hopes on his upcoming film, which is supposedly inspired from his father’s life as a teacher, Arindam stated, “The story is about the sweet journey of a middle-class man from a two-wheeler to a four-wheeler. It is about how he copes with the demands of his children and at the same time competes with neighbours."

This comedy film, which is directed by debutant Habib Faisal, has traces of Punjabi feel and is completely Delhi centric.

When he was asked that his lead stars Rishi-Neetu will manage to attract the audiences to the theatres, Arindam stated, “Yes, big stars definitely help in bringing the audience to the theatre, but if your script is not good, audience will not relate to it. Getting a star is not an issue, but getting a good script definitely is. We have confidence in our script.”

Taking a cue from the latest reports, it’s also believed that for essaying the female lead in ‘Do Dooni Chaar’, Juhi was first approached and not Neetu, as Arindam wasn’t sure whether Neetu will be interested in a comeback after three decades.

Talking about Neetu, Arindam Chaudhuri stated, "Rishiji was not sure whether Neetuji will agree. We approached Juhi Chawla but the actress did not want to play mother to an 18-year-old. We finally decided to go back to Neetuji and she loved the script."The producer also added that it was a huge challenge and achievement for him to bring Rishi and Neetu on screen together for ‘Do Dooni Chaar’.

It’s also believed that to get a middleclass look in the film, Neetu had gone through a complete makeover and her clothes had been bought from Sarojini Nagar.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

IIPM is India’s premier B-School. IIPM was established by economic visionary Dr. M. K Chaudhuri. It ranks among the top 5 b-schools in India. The institute has 18 campuses throughout India. Planman Consulting, is the sister concern of IIPM.

Planman Consulting is India’s largest multi interest consulting and business services corporation engaging a variety of organizations, institutions and enterprises in diverse industry and government verticals. It was established by Professor Arindam Chaudhuri in 1996. Planman Consulting’s core competency remains its people. The teams that make up Planman’s projects work forces worldwide comprise of individuals who have developed competencies in specific industries. Planman’s Consulting services are utilized by a number of the Fortune 500 organizations. There are various sister concerns of Planman Consulting, namely:

PLANMAN STARSPlanman Stars focuses on niche glamour based events, sports events and high profile entertainment and is the newest initiative of the Planman Group. Planaman’s expertise lies in connecting brands to bright starlets by providing end to end marketing solutions which helps the overall growth of the brand.

The company draw synergies from the various businesses of Planman and through them has strong networks in the entertainment and media fraternity globally. Driven by a powerful team of self motivated achievers, Planman Stars believes in making the impossible, achievable. We construct tailor made solutions that deliver in both local and global markets. Planman Stars has enhanced the image of various multi national brand in the minds of their priced customers. Backed by Planman Motion Pictures, Planman Marcom and Planman Media, the company enjoy a strong presence in the industry and through this synergy is very well networked with movie stars, rock stars, sports stars, acclaimed artists and legendary musicians. Planman Stars have a young and highly charged team, always ready to provide the client with the most innovative concepts and out of the box ideas to suit their specific requirements.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Someone had once quoted, “It is worth walking the extra mile, if at the end of it you know you have brought about a change.” With the same fervor, The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM) also decided to walk the extra mile to reach out to one of the greatest social and civil rights activists of the present times – Irom Chanu Sharmila.

IIPM is India's Premier B-School. Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri is the Hony. Dean of IIPM. IIPM is ranked No.1 in Placement Record, Quality of Faculty and Global Exposure and is ranked No.2 in Student Development, Potential to Network and Infrastructure. IIPM offers premier courses in BBA, MBA, EMBA and BCA.

A 3-member team from IIPM, led by its Founder-Director, Dr. M K Chaudhuri recently visited Sharmila in her room at the high-security ward of the government-run Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital at Porompat in Imphal East to confer upon her the IIPM - Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize. The award, consisting of a gold medal, a citation and a prize amount of Rs. 51 lacs (over USD 100,000) acknowledges her selfless and determined struggle to restore peace and justice in Manipur.

Dr. M K Chaudhuri, Founder Director – IIPM and Chairman, IIPM Awards Committee stated, “It makes me feel so proud and satisfied to come in touch with Sharmila. She is truly a living legend - a crusader who has selflessly struggled to bring about peace and justice in her land. She should be looked up as an icon for one and all, who has never swayed away from her vision. We all at IIPM salute her for her courage and grit and will continue to extend moral support to her cause.”

IIPM over the years has instituted various awards to recognize people from different walks of life, who have contributed in their own fields and have tried to become an element of change for the society at large. This year in April, IIPM instituted the Manavata Vikas Award, which was given out to people who have worked in the socio-political domain and in the fields of people centric economics and people-centric management. The awardees included academicians like Dr Ashok Sanjay Guha and Prof Sunanda Sanyal, popular columnists like Gurcharan Das and Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar and social thinkers like painter Shuvaprasanna Bhattacharya, Medha Patkar and Mahasweta Devi. In May once again, IIPM instituted the Rabindra Smriti Puraskar in Kolkata and honored some of the greatest individuals who have contributed in spreading Rabindranath’s consciousness through their works among the general mass – actor Soumitra Chatterjee, singer Suchitra Mitra, social visionary Dr Tushar Kanjilal and novelist Selina Hossain of Bangladesh. Once again on 30th august 2010, IIPM declared the USD 100,000 Surama Chowdhury Memorial International Award in Literature, awarding Khaled Hosseini for his depiction of socio-political life in a war ravaged Afghanistan in his novel – A Thousand Splendid Suns. There were many other awards given out on the same evening in areas of Journalism, Literature and Social Contribution.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

IIPM is India's Premier B-School. IIPM was established by renowned economic visionary Dr.M.K Chaudhuri in the year 1973. Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri is the Hony. Dean-Centre for Economic Research and Advanced Studies,IIPM.IIPM is ranked No.1 in Global Exposure(Ahead of all the IIMs) and is ranked No.8in Placements amongst all B-Schools.IIPM offers premium courses in B.B.A,M.B.A,B.C.A and E.M.B.A. IIPM gives UGC recognised degree from M.S university(Tamil Nadu).

IIPM in association with its Strategic Management Group (SMG) conducted a seminar for HR aspirants, at NCUI auditorium on 13thAugust 2010. The note of the seminar was on -“Strategies to Re-focus, Re-engage and Re-energize employees for company’s quick recovery from the Recession.”

The seminar had all the speakers enlightening the students by sharing anecdotes. Through their speeches they emphasized on the importance of retaining talent – which is one of the major challenges the HR industry faces today. They addressed various nuances of HR. From looking into balance sheets to ‘breaking all rules’, the seminar was a roller coaster ride.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

He is always in the news. Either for his management institute that dares to take on the IIMs, for his books that sell like hot cakes or for his blasé views. In a chat with Society, Arindam Chaudhuri is at his candid best

When it comes to studying management in India, the first name that possibly strikes any mind is the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), the hallowed chain of management institutes in the country. However, one institute that may not have taken over completely, but has definitely challenged this prestigious chain of IIM, is the Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM), currently headed by management guru and dean, Arindam Chaudhuri. Over the years, the institute has received mixed reactions from people within the industry, but that really hasn’t deterred the spirit with which Arindam Guides and moulds the institute. After all, he is the dean of an institute where he studied once. Speaking about his journey with the IIPM he says, “Though the IIPM was started in 1973, I formally took over in 1996 and these 14 years have been great! I was a student at the IIPM from 1989 to ‘96, doing my MBA and fellowship, During this time I realized that the institute was giving the best possible education, while in India the perception was still that the IIM, were the last word in management education.” Exuding confidence at the quality of its education, he continues, “The big thrust came when in 1996 we decided to go aggressive with our marketing to convey that education at the IIPM was decisively superior to that given by IIMs”

One thing led to the other and Arindam Chaudhuri felt the need for a firm that would facilitate the IIPM with management consultancy in India. That’s how the Planman Consulting Group was born. Talking about the venture, he says. “The decision to aggressively market the IIPM actually gave rise to the Planman Consulting Group. We realized that while our courses were far more in content than those at the IIMs, where we lacked, despite our strong research orientation, was our industry interface. Then of course, one thing led to another and Planman today is one of India’s largest multi-interest consulting groups.”

From IIPM to Planman and then to films, Arindam, conscious of dabbling in myriad fields, speaks about his skills not only as a professional but also throws considerable amount of light on his multi-tasking skills. One wonders then, was the move to constantly try out new things a well thought decision, or was it a case of accidentally putting his fingers into many pies? He explains. “To start Planman we had to get good people and these people often wanted to do their own thing. So to get those good people on board, wherever we saw them, we started various activities that they were passionate about. One such person is Shubho Shekhar Bhattacharjee, the CEO of our film company. He said he was willing to join us if we were ready to get into advertising agency business since he was creatively inclined.” He continues. “Though the ad agency didn’t quite get a great start, he landed up getting an offer to produce a film in Bangla which was at a budget of only 40 lakhs, something that we could afford then. We took an instant liking to the film and made it. It was a huge hit. That was in 2002 and there has been no looking back since then.”

Speaking about films one cannot resist asking Arindam Chaudhuri about the way he criticized the celebrated Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionair, while it not only got India its Oscar but also placed Indian cinema on a world pedestal. He laments, “Slumdog Millionnaire only exploited India in a lopsided, negative manner which in the times of western financial meltdown, the western people loved watching, because India was defying the meltdown and was being looked upon as the next big thing. It was amazing for them to sit and mock our growth story. I didn’t find any reason to enjoy that.” Continuing his tirade against the film, he says, “It was an intelligently made British film and in that sense India didn’t win the Oscar for it. A couple of Indians for their work in the film got the Oscar and I am proud of them.”

It’s not only movies that have miffed arindam, he is straight forward at criticizing the new Indian media and magazine culture for misleading the readers. So did his unhappiness with the existing magazines lead him to start his own? He clarifies, “Magazines are a natural extension of our teaching process. If in classrooms we can teach thousands, then through books we can teach lakhs and through our magazines we can teach crores every week.” Continuing about his issues with other magazines, he says, “Of course, I have very strong issues with the way the new Indian media loves highlighting issues just to make readers a dustbin of useless and misleading information, with amission to make them morons. Today, there is plethora of news all around and to me the job of a news magazine is not to give news all over again but to analyze news and give readers a perspective, an analysis. That’s what my magazine The Sunday India aims to do and that is why it is available in 14 languages because English readers have mostly lost their ability to get charged up. India lies in its interiors and that is where we hope to create a difference.” Arindam Chaudhuri’s inclination towards literature and books is evident. About the books he has written, he proudly says, “My books, both, Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch and The Great Indian Dream sold the highest ever in their respective categories of Management and Economics. My latest book Discover The Diamond in You is on success. It has sold more than 1.5 lack copies since its launch in 14 Languages.”

For someone whose opinions are razor sharp, we cannot resist but ask him his take on journalism and the media in general. To which he readily says, “Journalism is a different ball game. It’s more vision driven. As viewers and readers mature and become more educated and initiated, they will throw away the crass journalism that you see on TV, specially dished out for our illiterate masses. “He continues, “We need to spread education among the masses then journalism of catering to vested interests and illiterates will automatically start disappearing.” And about his future plans, especially with regards to the management scenario, he divulges, “My future plan is to consolidate all that we have started over time, no expansion is on the cards. The future of management education is great with more and more private players coming up and giving established names a run for their money.”

Speaking about boring and lethargic patterns and norms, for anyone who has had one good look at Arindam Chaudhuri will vouch for the fact that change reflects not only in the way his institute runs but also in the way he carries himself Breaking away from the mundane and monotonous corporate look, Arindam’s style is indeed futuristic. About his unique pony-tailed look, he shares, “I don’t know if I am unconventional. I think I speak very direct and plain and there are sections that get affected by it. Yes I do often hit out at status quo when I see them passing off without being questioned, like the IITs and the IIMs. But it’s a free country and every intelligent man as well as a joker has the right to free speech.” He continues, not before signing off, “And as for my dressing style, I think, though 38, I am still young at heart and love to experiment.”

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

According to Shahrukh people who are scared of failure often succeed in their lives. He added success does not teach you anything nor it can give you wisdom.But the fear of failure is the key to success.Recently he dazzled the Koramangala Indoor Stadium, where he became a Management guru anchoring a B- School Quiz organized by IIPM.

The entire stadium was clapping and whistling in 2 minutes as soon as he started his conversation. He had spent six years of his life in Bangalore untill he moved to Delhi.

Shahrukh Khan was a complete hit with his impromptu comments but he also gave wise advice on the concept of success. He said he works hard in his life as he is scared of poverty.

SRK ended the programme by displaying his dancing skills before the audience.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Bangalore turned muse for Aamir Khan-starrer 3 Idiots when the film’s crew shot portions at the IIM campus here, last year. Salman Khan hopped from Hyderabad to Bangalore to promote his film Veer in two cities in one hectic day.

Interestingly, it’s not a film that’s bringing Shah Rukh Khan to Bangalore. Shah Rukh will play quizmaster at an inter-business school competition.

Tied by a three-year contract to host the finale of IIPM’s annual nationwide business school quiz contest, the actor put in his first show last year in New Delhi. This year, the venue shifts to Koramangala’s National Games Village on February 8. Shah Rukh will host Dare 10 where six teams will be put to the test by the witty actor. “It will be wonderful to come to Bangalore,” says Shah Rukh.

Dare 10 is part of IIPM’s college fest which will have around 150 national and international colleges participating in various events, represented by nearly 3,000 students in Bangalore. “We always believe in doing things in a big manner and who better than Shah Rukh Khan can help us make it larger than life. Dare ’09 was held in Delhi last year and SRK was at his wittiest, wackiest best,” says Arindam Chaudhuri, founder-director IIPM.